What's with the panic buying, and so on?

The best thing I've seen on the topic.

“The thing about panic-buying is that it gives us a sense of control at a time when we’re lacking that,” says Deborah Small, a psychologist who studies consumer judgment and human decision-making at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. She adds that things get harried when “people hear that other people are buying something, and they say, ‘Oh, I need that too.’ And it just spirals to this level where we have none.”

But seeing what’s being left behind at grocery stores, like all that unloved Skippy the couple passed over, also tells a compelling story. As beleaguered systems like healthcare, immigration, and labor practices buckle under the weight of an unparalleled pandemic, the cracks being exposed are the ones that have actually always been there—if you knew where to look. The same is true for what the average consumer can now learn about the American food system, plain as day. - The Counter 

Another PolyMet permit gets bounced

From an MCEA press release. To my non-lawyer eyes, the court seems to be saying, and not for the first time, "we know what you a-holes are trying to pull, and it ain't happening."

Today, the Minnesota Court of Appeals remanded the PolyMet air pollution permit back to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). The Court found that the MPCA did not evaluate whether the air permit was a “sham permit” that does not accurately reflect the size and scope of PolyMet’s proposed mine. Notably, the Court of Appeals has rejected every PolyMet permit that it has reviewed...

The Court found that MPCA did not adequately respond to evidence presented by MCEA about plans to expand the proposed mine. The decision remands the permit back to the agency to consider whether a stronger permit that includes the best available technology to limit air pollution is required. The air permit is issued under the Clean Air Act, and the proposed mine cannot operate until it has a valid permit. 

How to notify the MN AG about COVID-19 price-gouging

This is from an email I got, from the office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison:

My office has received 150 complaints so far of price-gouging related to COVID-19 since the start of this crisis. Now I have a new tool to fight it.

Yesterday, Governor Walz issued an Executive Order that we worked closely together on that bans price gouging on essential goods and services like food, water, housing, fuel, healthcare, personal hygiene, cleaning supplies and more.

My office will be enforcing this new order, and we’ve set-up a price-gouging complaint form on our website here. If you feel you’ve been a victim of price-gouging, please report it to us.

Here's a link to the complaint form.

Can you imagine a hypothetical MN AG Doug Wardlow prioritizing something like this? Instead of raving about how it's all the fault of Muslims and liberals?

Holding corporations to account for any bailout money

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) put a list of suggestions on Twitter. Stuff like maintaining payrolls and prohibiting stock buybacks. Obviously these ideas didn’t actually originate with her, or with any one person in particular, but this is a convenient presentation.

I would add, make companies bring back the money they have stashed in tax-evading overseas accounts, and pay their taxes on it, and then go through that, before they get a dime of bailout. Another thing I’d do, is use the criminal code to liquidate the scorched-earth vulture capital firms, and put those ill-gotten assets back into the economy.

The chances of much of this happening, especially my added notions, are not great to say the least. But of course it’s worth aiming for, in whatever ways.

What the deal is now, with SNAP work requirements

Late last week there was this:

The Trump administration is moving ahead with its plan to enact strict work requirements on people who use food stamps despite the coronavirus pandemic — a move that could result in hundreds of thousands of people losing their eligibility for the program.

People could soon be forced to work public-facing jobs when they should stay home or else risk losing access to the assistance they get to buy food. - BuzzFeed News

Subsequently:

- The Pelosi coronavirus deal includes a suspension of SNAP work requirements;

- Those same requirements were blocked by a federal judge.

So a certain crew of sickos, intent on producing more hunger just because they can, are stymied for now. They won’t stop trying.

New report of VA denying care

New report, ongoing problem for many years.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has unlawfully turned away veterans with other-than-honorable discharges for decades because of flawed training and guidance that created a "cycle of misinformation," a report released (last) Thursday found.

Rather than telling veterans with other-than-honorable discharges to fill out applications for health care, sending a written denial and informing them about their options to appeal, VA staff often rejects them on the spot, the report says. While other-than-honorable discharges, commonly known as "bad paper," can preclude veterans from some VA services, that's not always the case -- particularly with mental health care...

Veterans receive other-than-honorable discharges for a host of reasons, including serious crimes. However, service members with bad paper were, in many cases, unjustly released from the military because of infractions that stemmed from mental health issues.

The Government Accountability Office found that tens of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who were separated from the military for misconduct had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury or another mental health disorder.

Service members in the LGBT community were also given other-than-honorable discharges during the days of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," a policy that barred openly gay people from military service. When the policy was in place from 1994 to 2001, more than 100,000 service members were discharged because of their LGBT status, the OUTVETS report shows. - Military.com

Shocking! White-collar crime prosecutions way down under Trump

Some people have to have made a lot of money from Trump’s business failures. I mean, the pre-bankruptcy assets have to have ended up somewhere. Therefore, Trump himself has clearly been a victim, in some ways, and you’d think he’d be good and pissed at plenty of his fellow white-collar criminals. But in the depths of his pathological narcissistic and delusional disorders he will never even begin to come to terms with any of that.

Prosecutions of white-collar criminals by the U.S. Justice Department plunged to an all-time low in January, according to a study published just days after President Donald Trump proclaimed his commitment to "safeguarding the American consumer" and "strengthening our efforts to prevent and prosecute fraud."

The analysis released Tuesday by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) found that the Justice Department prosecuted just 359 white-collar criminals in January, a decline of 25% from five years ago. TRAC has been recording data on white-collar prosecutions since 1986. - Common Dreams

Trump policy is leaving people, including kids, hungry

The rule took effect February 24. As this article notes, the rule itself isn't entirely the issue. From a news search just now, there is at least one legal challenge pending.

Across the country, fear and confusion about the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule has prompted immigrants and their families to drop out or stay out of public nutrition programs, even when they are eligible, according to immigrant and anti-hunger groups. Enrollment in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and school food programs has been affected, although they are not covered by the new rule, say the advocates. - Mother Jones

Trump got massively "took" on the China trade deal

I don’t suppose you’re having any trouble getting your head around how this could have happened, either.

Guess what? The promises Donald Trump made about his partial trade deal with China were a lie. China isn't buying the $40 billion in American agricultural products Trump said it would, more like $14 billion through the end of September, according to the Washington Post. 

So Republicans are now teeing up another massive farm bailout on top of the $28 billion taxpayers have already forked over to make up for Trump's self-engineered trade disaster. - Daily Kos

MN-04: Rep. McCollum is taking a lot of crap for being right

Comes with the territory, I suppose, for any public figure who supports an honest, humane, intelligent approach to this issue.

Congresswoman Betty McCollum is not backing down from her criticism of AIPAC. 

After issuing a daring statement lambasting the pro-Israel group, the US legislator vowed to continue advocating for the human rights of Palestinian children and push against attempts to silence her.

In an interview with Middle East Eye, McCollum said AIPAC's attacks on Israel's Democratic critics in Congress prove that the organisation is not "inclusive or non-partisan" as it claims to be. - Middle East Eye

This, too:

 Congresswoman McCollum (MN-04) released the following statement:

“I’m proud to represent the largest Hmong community in the U.S. The remarkable contributions of our Hmong and Lao neighbors keep our community strong and successful. Many Hmong and Lao people arrived as refugees and resettled in Minnesota after fleeing their homeland because of their help and support of the U.S. government during the Vietnam War. It is a betrayal of the courage and sacrifice of our Hmong and Lao veterans and their families for the Trump administration to deport anyone to Laos. I completely reject efforts by the State Department to pressure the Lao government into signing a repatriation agreement. Such an agreement would result in a green light for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest and deport individuals in our community with orders for removal to a country they fled decades ago. This is a dangerous policy that will tear Hmong and Lao families apart, and I will do everything I can to stop it.” - mccollum.house.gov